In short

A round-up of today's business news in brief

Swiss Re hit by subprime losses

Swiss Re emerged as the latest casualty of the subprime crisis yesterday after a loss of 1.2 billion Swiss francs (€733 billion) on two complex credit default swaps. The news pushed its shares down 10.25 per cent to SFr87.55.

The loss at the world's biggest reinsurer weighed on shares in the insurance sector across Europe.

The news came as Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, said large writedowns by US investment banks had increased market jitters.

The Zurich-based group had expressed confidence about its investments as recently as its third-quarter results this month. - (Financial Times service)

China concerned at dollar decline

China yesterday expressed concern at the decline in the dollar, joining a growing chorus of global policymakers alarmed by the weakness in the world's main reserve currency.

Premier Wen Jiabao told an audience in Singapore it was becoming difficult to manage China's $1,430 billion (€975 billion) foreign exchange reserves, saying that their value was under unprecedented pressure.

China keeps the currency composition of its reserves secret, but some analysts believe more than two-thirds are held in dollars. - (Financial Times service)

Houses still costly for public sector

Falling house prices have done little to improve affordability for key public sector workers, according to an annual Halifax survey.

Despite the market downturn, firefighters and nurses across the State are looking at prices that are still more than 10 times their annual salary. Those in Dublin are facing property values that are more than 13 times their annual pay.

Primary-school teachers, face salary multiples of 8.5 nationwide and 10.9 in Dublin. Secondary teachers and gardaí fare slightly better.

Ovoca Gold shares leap 15%

Shares in Dublin-based exploration group Ovoca Gold jumped almost 15 per cent yesterday after the company said the Russian government commission for natural resources had approved its resource classification at the Goltsovoye silver mine.

Ovoca also said it had raised £4.5 million (€6.3 million) in a share sale to fund the development of the northeast Russian mine.

Minco in Mexico funding deal

Minco, the Aim-listed metals group that is searching for zinc at Pallas Green in Co Limerick, said it had reached an agreement with Pacific Road Capital to provide funding for its Mexican exploration projects. The agreement, which is conjunction with Orca Minerals, will enable the group to advance its Bilbao and Laguna projects.

Severstal extends offer for Celtic

Russian miner Severstal said yesterday it had extended its offer for Irish- registered mining group Celtic Resources until December 7th.

The company said it had received acceptances in respect of 15.9 per cent of Celtic's share capital.

Bluecone, a company owned by Centroferve, the subsidiary through which Severstal is making the offer, controls an additional 29.7 per cent of Celtic's shares.

40% think economy will worsen

People are more optimistic about their personal circumstances than about the economy in general, according to a study by Ipsos Mori.

Although 40 per cent of Irish people believe the state of the general economy will worsen in the next 12 months, fewer than one in 10 believe their own personal financial situation will worsen.